


riptide (a single teardrop in the sky)

by tende (mon_k)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Past Jaehyun/Taeyong, Past Relationship(s), Pining, there is some swearing be aware, time is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 10:06:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14871714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mon_k/pseuds/tende
Summary: Both men walked down the streets, they knew all too well. Each step they took made them look like a river that already knew its bank, for passing over it repeatedly even though its waters were never the same.(Or the one in which Jaehyun and Doyoung spend years trying to avoid being swept away by the tide but keep failing.)





	riptide (a single teardrop in the sky)

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it’s Sof, i wanted to write this a long time ago and finally, here it is.  
> Huge shout out to [Nico](http://lraindropsandrosesl.tumblr.com/) for giving me feedback and to [Lu](https://jahehyung.tumblr.com/) for hearing my rants and mundane problems.  
> This is unbetaed, I'm sorry. If you find any mistakes please tell me.
> 
>  **Warning:** there is some swearing in there, be aware.

Not a single day passed by without him wandering about his whereabouts. It had been already eight years since they last saw each other. For him, as a vampire, it was a blink of an eye, yet to a human like Jaehyun, it felt as if it was an utterly long time.

_God, how he missed him._

He stared at the clock on the cafe’s wall. 

_Oh time._

The minute hand ticked. Once. Twice. 

_What was thinking whoever invented time?_

His heart drummed in his chest in unison with the clock. In his short life, he had learned a couple things: time was better measured in experiences rather than in empty numbers and there wasn't truly an end goal to our existences. The beautiful thing was the path itself. 

_Perhaps it was a way to control a reality that slipped through his fingers like gelid water._

“Jae?” 

The man looked up from his lukewarm coffee, startled to hear _that_ voice in here of all places. 

“Oh, hey.”

“Long time no see,” said the newcomer standing by the table. “Fancy meeting you here,” added the dark-haired man. “Is Taeyong around too?”

“No.” His heart felt a little sting. “Just me, Doyoung-hyung.”

“I see.” Doyoung stared a the empty seat across Jaehyun. “Can I sit?”

“Sure.”

“You are older than when i last saw you,” pointed out Doyoung after a pause. 

“No kidding, hyung. Humans do age and eventually die.”

“I know, but you are not exactly human, right? It's just that seeing you so much with the rest of the gang back in the day kind of made me forget the fact that you were even a half-blood.”

“Well, we also grow old and die.”

“No kidding," said Jaehyun and Doyoung's lips curled upwards into a small smile. The clock ticked once. “How is Jungwoo?”

“Uhm,” Doyoung shifted in his seat, smile falling. “I don't know.”

“What do you mean?” asked the younger with a puzzled look. 

“We broke up.” Doyoung rubbed his neck. “Before you ask, it just didn’t work out. He slammed the door in my face saying quote _you are not ready for a relationship, hyung._ ”

Jaehyun made a humming sound. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Doyoung stared at the dark wood table. A sad smile displaying on his face. “Just a bit sad that I didn’t get from that relationship the idealized forever partner that vamps yearn.” After a pause, he added, “Guess that's life.”

_What was life, again?_

Jaehyun hummed again, sipping his now cold coffee. "Not only the vampires," he added quietly.

"What was that?" asked Doyoung.

"Oh, nothing."

“Anyway, what are you doing around here?” the older man raised his hand to call for the waiter. 

“Just visiting my family.” He paused, looking up to meet Doyoung’s eyes. “My mom is getting old you know?” A bittersweet smile invaded Jaehyun’s features. “My dad keeps trying to convince her to turn but she refuses.” 

“Why?” he asked while ordering to the waiter (Jaemin was it?) for a blood infused espresso. 

“She says she wants to experience old age and that forever is _too_ long. Mark and I try to understand her but it’s hard.” Jaehyun finished his coffee with an audible gulp and sat the cup down. The human boy came back, setting the drink in front of Doyoung. Jaehyun smiled fondly. 

“What?” 

“Nothing,” said the younger, eyes shining a bit with a nostalgic glow. “It’s just that your timing is as bad as it was eight years ago.”

“How so?”

“You are always beginning when i’m ending, hyung.”

Doyoung lips turned upwards slightly. 

“What about you?”

“Huh?” the older man lifted the cup and took a small sip. 

“What are you doing back at the coven?

“Same as you,” Doyoung paused to take another sip. “Visiting the family and friends while I have a vacation from work. Also, Hyuck is turning eighteen this week, which means soon he’ll have to leave to the academy.”

“Do you think he is ready?” 

“He is most definitely more ready than me at that age.” he sipped his coffee. “Look at me now, a ten-year-old vampire who took five years to pass his tests.”

Jaehyun made a sound resembling a chuckle, face lighting up a bit. doyoung finished the coffee in one gulp and said: “Shall we go?”

“Where?” Jaehyun stood up with Doyoung. 

“Where were you planning to go after you finished here?” Both men waved goodbye to the Jaemin kid and to the owner, Ten , who was a half-blood just like Jae, which made him like this café even more. Doyoung held the door open for Jaehyun and both men exited. 

“I don't know,” replied Jaehyun once outside, the fading cold from the winter nearing its end blowing past them. “Maybe i could visit my grandma today. want to tag along?”

“It would be a pleasure.”

Both men walked down the streets, they knew all too well. Each step they took made them look like a river that already knew its bank, for passing over it repeatedly even though its waters were never the same. Taking a sharp turn to the right, they came to a halt in front of a patch of land enclosed by a railing. The local cemetery was big, considering the fact that hardly someone died in the neighborhood. 

They walked in silence between the tombs until they reached a particular run down one that read:

_**Jung Minjun**  
Beloved mother and devoted wife._

They stood in front of it for a moment and then Jaehyun said: “It’s truly sad to be remembered only for being a mother and a wife.”

“Yeah, but those were other times, Jae, when being a devoted wife and a beloved mother were remarkable qualities.”

After a long pause, the boy let out a bitter laugh. “What does that even mean?” 

Before the vampire could answer he added: “What does time even mean to you, Doyoung? Because I don’t how much longer am i supposed to keep waiting, being an _devoted_ boyfriend,” Jaehyun spat the word with frustration. 

A silent string of tears started flowing down his face, resembling raindrops falling down after a drought. 

 

The first time Jaehyun broke down like that they were at his place celebrating his nineteenth birthday. Everybody was clueless at first about what to do, but Doyoung had stepped in and engulfed the boy in a hug that left the second promise lingering in the air. _I'm not leaving._

Seven months prior, Taeyong had left the coven to be trained and turned into a full vampire, leaving his boyfriend with a first promise of coming back before his birthday. Weeks turned into months, that turned into years and each birthday became a crushing reminder of the hollowness inside his chest. 

 

Just like that day, Doyoung grabbed Jaehyun by the arm and hugged him, rubbing his back until he let all the sobs out.

He thought hearing Doyoung muttering: “You have the power to give time the meaning it holds.”

Right then and there, Jae felt the hole in his core fill up just a little. 

 

###

 

“Goddammit, Taeyong. you promised him you were coming back!”

“I can’t,” whispered the man. 

“He has been waiting for you for the last four years,” Doyoung was seeing red, not blood red but a red that had undertones of _anger_ . “He has spend day and night wondering if that was the day when you’d call or come back for him.”

After seeing Jaehyun in pain for four long years, Doyoung decided it was enough and tracked down Taeyong, finding out he was living in a rural area in Thailand. 

Taeyong sat by the bed looking completely crushed. “I-I-” he said more to himself than to his hyung. 

“When he realized you were not going to arrive he bottled his feelings slowly until he broke down in the middle of the most unexpected moments.” 

Both stared at each other eyes, silence stretching too long. 

“God i love him,” he whispered barely audible. 

“Then go back to him.”

“I can’t, hyung,” he looked up at the older man with glassy eyes. “I just can’t drag him to hell with me. He is too precious to ruin his existence like that.”

“Why don’t you let him decide that?” The words burnt as they left Doyoung's mouth. The older man sat down next to his friend. 

“Because I know he is too selfless and he’ll come to me anywhere not thinking about the consequences”.

What about giving him closure and telling that to him?”

“I know I won’t be able to let go if I see him once more,” replied the younger with fat tears cascading down his face.

“Hyung, I don't want to kill him,” added the younger after a pause. 

“Oh, Tae,” Doyoung hugged Taeyong and held him close until the latter’s tears dried up and a scarlet red came through the curtains. Neither of them slept that night. Doyoung too busy soothing Taeyong, who tried his best to forget that eternal smile. 

“Please take care of him, hyung.” Taeyong stirred away from Doyoung alarmingly calm, as the sun started peaking through the horizon. 

“What?” 

“I know you have always had a soft spot for him,” he pointed out. His eyes were like a gunshot aiming straight into Doyoung’s soul. 

Actually meaning _I know you have always been deeply in love with him._ “So I am begging you to look out for him.”

“Tae, I-” Doyoung always found it chilling how good they knew each other. 

“I have to go.” Taeyong stood up, going away so fast that he only left behind a distortion in the air and a “goodbye, hyung” lingering in the room. 

 

###

 

A few weeks into their visit to the coven, Jaehyun and Doyoung started spending more and more time together. splashes of their shared teenage memories blew in the air every time they locked eyes. 

Jaehyun caught himself thinking a bit less about taeyong and more about the present. 

Donghyuck left the safety of their coven a couple of weeks earlier, exactly one day after his eighteenth birthday, claiming that he felt ready. He said to Doyoung and the rest of the gang, that gathered to bid him farewell, “hyungs, I'll come back faster than anyone being the best pureblood out there.” To which Taeil, the oldest one of them shot him a raised eyebrow. And Yuta, the fastest vampire to finish the academy laughed loudly. 

Doyoung, on the other side, muttered “I'm sure you will, Donhgyuck.” But he could see the hesitance and fear in Donghyuck’s eyes, lingering just there, on the verge of excitement and sadness, as he made that promise to them. 

Donghyuck was crushed. He mopped all day and kept muttering something along the lines of “I miss him”. The chinese half blood was sent two years ago to their coven to learn from them and as soon as he laid eyes on Donghyuck he started courting the boy. 

Jaehyun and Doyoung, being the ones who had not much to do, often accompanied the chinese boy after school, watching movies and playing football together. (Of course, Yukhei always destroyed both men in every match they played.) 

They stopped hanging out together when the coven received a chinese sixteen-year-old pureblood. The newcomer was introduced in a meeting as Chenle and Yukhei took him under his wing immediately, quite literally. With an arm around Chenle’s shoulders, he promised to show him everything around. Chenle just rolled his eyes annoyed, yet a wave of relief washed over him, for finding someone from his home country to look up to.

After the coven meeting, Yukhei came beaming to jaehyun and doyoung after the ceremony with chenle on his tail. 

“Chenle-di, this is my boyfriend’s brother, Doyoung,” said the boy in chinese, to which Doyoung raised an eyebrow. _My boyfriend_ “And this is his boyfriend, Jaehyun.”

Jaehyun stood clueless about what Yukhei had just said but Doyoung, knowing a bit of chinese flushed bright red. “He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Yeah sure, gege.”

Later that day, Jaehyun asked, “what did Yukhei say earlier?”

Doyoung blushed again, muttering quietly, "he introduced you to chenle as my boyfriend.”

The younger just answered with an “oh” and a faint blush spread in his cheeks. 

Once Jaehyun was in his old room at his parent's house, the word “boyfriend” lingered in his dreams like a lonely cloud in a blue sky. 

Another week went by, and the time came for doyoung to return to work. The gang got together to throw Doyoung a goodbye party and with the last winter blows, he was gone. 

In the next couple of days, winter gave the spotlight to spring and with the blossoming trees, a mailman knocked on Jaehyun’s door. 

 

###

 

Doyoung often left many things unsaid. Sometimes it was a good thing, could be seen as a polite gesture. 

Yet, that day, four years ago, he would’ve wanted to say many more things to Taeyong. But a mix of the impending time ticking by and his fear of messing it up sealed his mouth shut. 

_Why me?_

On the train back home from the coven, all the questions he had left unspoken came to him like hail falling from the sky at full force, hitting him straight in the face. ( _What was home again?_ ) 

It was true. he had been for as long as he could remember, in love with Jaehyun. At first, it was a love like the one you had with a little brother. Naive. Protective. 

Then it slowly morphed into a fond type of love. So tranquil that he didn’t realize it was there until he found himself being endeared by the smallest things the younger did. That hair strand out of place. Those dimples. The calmness with a bit of spice in his eyes. 

When he got around his feelings and decided to ask the boy out, he realized it was no longer possible. He was in a happy relationship with Taeyong. So he decided it was better to leave the coven in an exchange program. To forget, he claimed. Three years passed and he came back, to find out that Taeyong had left one year ago, Jaehyun was crushed and he most certainly did not forget his feelings. 

From then on, his feelings danced in some kind of limbo. Not sure to let go or hold on to whatever hope he got. 

But then Jungwoo happened. It had been a very quiet relationship. They got together. There were no fireworks or flames. A year went by and they decided to move together to a nearby city, both of them deciding to attend college there. They rushed and that was their mistake. Sadly things ended abruptly when Doyoung started looking for Taeyong to confront him in Jae’s name. 

Having grown up with them, Jungwoo knew Doyoung had some kind dubious feelings for the half-blood. So it was no surprise that three years into their relationship, Doyoung still wanted to take care of Jaehyun. 

The morning Doyoung left for Thailand, Jungwoo asked, “Me or that trip, hyung”. The thing is that he didn’t hesitate to choose the trip. Jungwoo broke down in tears and moved out for good, leaving him again in this weird tightrope where he didn’t know to just let himself fall or try to cross it. 

After four years, he was still in the dilemma.

(Yet Taeyong had seen straight through it, knowing Doyoung would always put Jaehyun first.)

 

###

 

The thing is that Jaehyun already knew what Doyoung felt for him. He didn’t mean to know but it kind of happened. 

The year Doyoung and Jungwoo moved to another city, Doyoung’s mom decided to make a garage sale in which she sold many items that his sons didn’t want anymore. The whole coven visited the garage sale, as it was _the_ event of the week. Life there was pretty boring, so Jaehyun decided to drop by after university. Donghyuck the being a know-it-all eleven-year-old gossip king, told Jaehyun to “check that phone over there”. 

He recognized it as Doyoung’s old phone and he truly didn’t want to pry into his privacy so he politely refused. The kid didn’t really care and started reading Doyoung’s old messages. a conversation with Taeil in particular.

“Hyung I don't know what to do,” read out loud the boy dramatically. 

“‘He is with Taeyong, Young-ah there is nothing you can do’ answered Taeil hyung,” continued the kid. 

“‘But i can ask him out, now that Taeyong is gone’ texted my brother.”

“‘You can’t break them-’”

“Donghyuck, stop,” cut Jaehyun sternly. “Please stop.” 

The kid stared at Jaehyun, shocked when he saw the older’s watery gaze. 

“I'm sorry hyung.” 

“It’s okay.” _It was not._

With that, Jaehyun left and spent the rest of the evening processing the information, lying flat on his bed. The next day, he tried his best to push those worries aside as midterms were around the corner. But it was futile. He kept going back to the messages and to Taeyong. 

In fact, before the thunderstorm called Taeyong came, Jaehyun had liked his hyung profusely. No one knew. No one would ever know. Jae had always looked with stars in his eyes at Doyoung. But then he left for his training for five years and Taeyong swept him away like a spring tide pulling you in so smoothly that once you noticed it was too late to come out. 

Soon after his thoughts regarding the matter came to a halt when he realized that Doyoung was living with Jungwoo and that it was most likely that he was already over Jaehyun. _right?_

 

 

Six years later, the letter came. 

 

###

 

Doyoung sat by a window, rain pouring outside. he had always believed a storm like that could never bring anything good. 

Coffee in hands he thought about everything and anything at the same time. He was already eleven years old as a vampire. Call it a long time. yet he felt as if it had lasted the time a drop takes to fall from the sky. or the time it takes the sunlight to come down from the sun and hit the gravel. _Was it truly a long time?_

The man tapped his fingers against the table. funny, he thought, it was already a year since he last saw Jaehyun, back at the coven. He recalled their last moment together. Jae tearing up a bit and Doyoung telling him that he was there for him if ever Jaehyun needed him. “Because I love you.” He left unsaid, didn’t he? 

The bell chimed and he heard behind him a shuffle of someone putting down their umbrella. “A tea please,” a voice said as doyoung finished the last drops of his coffee. 

The clock ticked. Once. 

“Is this seat taken?” asked a quiet voice. A voice he knew so well. Doyoung slowly raised his head. Perhaps it was all a dream. He locked eyes with the man before him and said: “No, please seat.” 

To which the other replied: “Thanks hyung.” A pause. “Long time no see.”

Doyoung smiled at the boy. And received a smile as bright as his own from Jaehyun back at him. 

The storm brought good news for once.

 

###

 

Five months after the letter, Jaehyun found himself slowly letting go of Taeyong. Slowly letting go of the idea that he’ll come back. Letting go of the idea that they will be together forever. And to his surprise, it didn’t pain him as much as he thought.

There were days he woke up crying from a nightmare. There were others he didn’t dream. And few times, he dreamt with falling snow and a certain hyung. 

Already back at his home from the coven. He started experiencing new things. He started hanging out with some friends from work. And he found himself laughing openly again to whatever joke Sicheng had said or the things Johnny did. 

Six more months passed and he remembered Taeyong occasionally now. The man was sitting on the couch by the window of his apartment, scrolling down his calendar when he realized that Doyoung’s birthday was a week away. _Oh Doyoung._ He had spent some time now thinking about what the older man had said to him when they parted one year ago. “Because i love you”. 

The thing is, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to let go completely. But he didn’t want to commit the same mistake Taeyong made in their relationship. He wanted to give Doyoung a chance to decide as well. Because since that day long ago, in the garage sale, Jaehyun’s feelings had changed a bit. He had stopped holding on blindly to the tightrope and instead, from time to time, when he was feeling brave, He contemplated the possibility to let go and fall. 

So the next week, one day before Doyoung’s birthday Jaehyun packed and left for his hyung’s city, finding him in a situation both of them found all too familiar. Almost like a dejavú. 

Jaehyun was always ending when Doyoung was starting. 

 

 

Guess now both of them were finally starting together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for finishing this mess! Kudos, comments or any type of feedback is truly appreciated.
> 
> Come talk to me at my [tumblr](http://augustds.tumblr.com/) or at my [insta](https://www.instagram.com/mon_k6/?hl=es-la).
> 
>  **Update:** So I wanted to clear somethings about the plot, timeline and universe.  
>  Half-bloods are supposed to age slower than humans but like Jae said they do age and eventually die.  
> About the timeline and plot : the present line is when Doyoung and Jae meet after six years (the last time being when doyoung left with Jungwoo). There Jae finds out that Doyoung has broken up with Jungwoo four years prior which means Doyoung confronted Tae without Jae knowing also four years prior. They spend some weeks together. Then Doyoung leaves and Jae receives a letter in the mail from Taeyong. The future timeline happens five months after the letter and Jae is debating whether or not he should go to Doyoung or not. (Bc he keeps thinking a bit about Taeyong). He ends up going to Doyoung.  
> 19/04/24: Probably I will expand this universe so stay tuned


End file.
